Anyway, it's the Usual drill for January: put the Jan-June 2004 stuff from Archive Lair 2 in here, and most of the stuff from Archive Lair 1 in Archive Lair 2, until about July of this year, or Thereabouts...
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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2004: LairLurkers all, whatever festival you happen to be into (even if it's just a nice family banquet a week from this Saturday), may it bring you Peace, Joy and Courage!! First thing Tomorrow, Friday, December 17, the LairMistress will be flying East to visit her parents and brother in lovely Fairfield Glade, Tennessee, where her parents retired in 1996! My access to the Internet may well be quite Limited (the last two years, I've had to go out to the nearest Public Library to get Online), so I'm assuming that I may not post Again until we see a New Year on our calendars!! While there, I'm hoping to finish my Latest collection of ceramic ornaments (so I hang them during the next month at the Art Gallery), and perhaps try my hand at a new Neolithic Poltava piece! Whatever. I'll find something to do. Supposedly I've been recruited to play guitar on Christmas Eve, but their Christmas Eve church service has been scheduled for some Absurd time like 3:00 in the afternoon...how Romantic...
Anyway, Happiness and Blessings to all for your Festival of Choice, and a Happy New Year to come!!
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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2004: Folks, I have no idea how this happened--especially since, while I enjoy the Harry Potter films, I'm not particularly Fanatical about that whole scene. And, of course, you'd think that I was way too old to develop Teenlike crushes on Dark, Mysterious, FICTITIOUS literary characters. But, you know what, I've fallen under a spell, and I can't get up!! Just in the past couple of weeks, I've developed a Mad crush on the (ahem! Did I not just say FICTITIOUS?) Dark, Seductive "baddie wizard", Hogwarts' Potions Master, Severus Snape!! And apparently I'm not the only one, NO, not by a long shot! A Cursory search in Google or Yahoo! turns up literally scores (or more) fansites dedicated, not to Harry Potter, but to Severus Snape (and to a lesser extent, his actor, Alan Rickman)! Seriously, I don't know what's come over me, and I swear I never saw this Coming. We at the Lair can only surmise that the energy millions of fans have been putting into this character have essentially created a person of his characteristics, at least on the Astral Plane, who is actually capable of Enchanting people!! And that, I suppose, is Snape's Sweet Revenge on Harry Potter and Clan--the Sweetest revenge must be in growing more Popular than the Title Character of a literary/film series!
The problem here is with some of the Fan Fiction (abbreviated "fanfic" among its afficionados). In his Original, Authorized incarnation (see author J.K. Rowlings' official Home Lair), Severus Snape is a very Private, Edgy, Taciturn loner, revealing far less of himself than he conceals (and he clearly prefers it that way). Granted, some of the Snape fanfiction is better than Other such. Trouble is, fanfic authors and webmasters are exploiting the Holy Crap out of the poor guy, mostly to indulge their own sexual fantasies in literary form (it took me a while to figure out what "Slash" means in this context). The Limited exposure I've had to fansites, fanfic sites and journals reveal literally hundreds of writers turning Snape into a Crazed, Bisexual sex fiend, jumping into bed with practically every fellow character at Hogwarts and others besides (as soon as they reach the age of consent, that is)! Worse still, many of these sites habitually use tiny green fonts on a black background, which are practically Impossible to read unless you highlight them. We figure, if even five percent of these stories were, ahem, "true", he'd never get any work done; and if even ten percent were "true", he'd probably be without a job in short order. Mind you, even the Original incarnation of this character is very Charismatic and Seductive, in much the same way a vampire is; and I certainly can't deny that, um, "Unprofessional" thoughts about him have crossed my mind on a Semi-Regular basis! However, in trying to figure Snape out, I am coming to realize that he needs to be treated with compassion, patience and understanding; and that he is Likely to reveal more to those who respect his privacy and solitude than to those who rip his clothes off and devour him like zombies, Paradoxically Enough...
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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2004: Well, Good and Patient LairLurkers, after more than three (count 'em) Freaking weeks, we've finally got the Balloon Feather Boat Tomato Concert Review Posted!! Good Lord, it's a Bloody Long one, too! But anyway, do have a look at it, and let us know what you think. Guess it's also time to update the ol' Sitemap, while we're at it...!!
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How indie are you? test by ridethefader
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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2004: I still need Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan right now to feel fully alive. My religious beliefs, without him, feel imposed and hurtful, like something being forced on me against my will. Jesus is cool, but he doesn't sing qawwali. My heart is still with Nusrat, here and now. I need him here, alive on this side again, for all other music to move me. I need him here to create music myself, to feel fully alive in music and in spirit. If God wants me to trust Him/Her completely again, Nusrat must be returned here, alive, in full voice. If God doesn't support my music, writing and art, I put Him/Her on notice that no other work will keep me alive. I am here for no other purpose.
The whole world has become something I don't want. No qawwali or other world music being played here in Seattle. Our government trying to take over the world, beginning with Iraq--what is being done to the Iraqi people feels imposed on me as well. Leave them alone, and let them rebuild their country as they wish it to be. Leave people alone to love whom they please and marry whom they love. Leave people alone to believe what they know and feel. Stop threatening to punish people for what they think. Leave women alone to live as they wish and control their own lives. Let Heaven be as diverse as Earth. Let the Feminine and Masculine coexist in peace, working together in tandem, not in opposition to each other. Give me all my dreams back, and let them all come true. Let all that I desire and dream of come to pass.
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2004:...We DO, in fact, have a concert review In Progress for Jason Webley's Last-Ever in the History of the Universe Halloween Show (or whatever...)!! In fact, the Word-file draft is nearly Complete, more than a fortnight after the show in question took place! However! Lately, the LairMistress has been Driven to Distraction getting Ready for her Featured Artist show at Art/Not Terminal Gallery here in Seattle (in fact, that's where I'm Lurking at Present); and that's practically ALL I can think about right Now!! But a review WILL be posted in its own special SubLair shortly, complete with poetry quotes and the Usual animated gifs! Just to let you know we haven't forgotten, or blown it off, or turned into Hibernating Slackers for the winter!! I am Karen the LairMistress, and I approve this message...
MeanWhile, nostalgic Cronies can check out the Concert photo galleries posted by Josh Larios and Michael Hanscom...
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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2004:...I would have made Proper note of this past Saturday, October 16 being Oscar Wilde's 150th Birthday (mind you, he still would have hotly insisted he wasn't a day over 98)!! And so, a Happy Belated Birthday to our favorite Victorian historical and literary figure, with whom we bonded so closely back in High School (does he still go into mourning on his birthdays, I wonder?). We are also Pleased to announce that the Oscar Wilde Movie Site is Back Up after a long absence; and that we have found an Utterly Exquisite fansite, based in Germany, called Oscar Wilde: Standing Ovations (a/k/a Ode An Ein Genie). Claudia, the LairMistress of this site, has done a truly OutStanding job keeping it both Up to Date and amazingly Comprehensive!!
We continue to feel very Bonded with our Victorio-Modern friend Oscar, in spite of completely missing out on his 100th death anniversary in November 2000. In 1992, while reading and being intensely moved by Richard Ellmann's Wilde biography, I kept wishing mightily that I could go back in time and help Wilde somehow in his final Tragic stage of life. Somewhere along the line, somehow, I started feeling him speaking to me through the book, telling me that there was something I could do, here and now, that would give him some peace of mind: he requested that I make a traditional Celtic honor pledge that I would always remember what happened to him, and never allow it to happen to anyone else if I could possibly help it. Personal honor is an important concept in both Norse and Celtic culture, and I have both strains in my bloodline. So, after giving it some thought, I agreed to the honor pledge, meaning that my personal honor is at stake if I fail to act on someone's behalf (that is, someone being subjected to antigay persecution) to the best of my ability. Twelve years later, the pledge still stands. I still am taking action for justice on behalf of my GLBT friends and neighbors, in large part on account of Oscar, because I love him!!
SPECIAL UPDATE (FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2004): We just discovered Yesterday that Today, Friday, October 22, is the 134th Birthday of Oscar's boyfriend, Lord Alfred Douglas, a/k/a Bosie (1870-1945)!! While we're not huge fans of Bosie's personality, he certainly could turn out Gorgeous poems; in particular, his classical Italian-style sonnets (esp. "Two Loves", "The Dead Poet" and "A New Remorse") take a backseat to none! So, to be Fair and Conciliatory (as Oscar would wish), we bid a Happy Birthday to Bosie (and, by some Amazing chance, we found out about this only just in time, too)!!
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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2004: Yeeeshh!! A pox on all the political candidates, right, left or center!! Seems like they're holding a contest for who can produce and show the most Annoying ads on TV, round the clock, 24-seven. Anytime I see one of these screeds (and all the major channels have them) at this stage, I just screech, "Shut up Already!!" and turn off the volume, hoping against hope that the candidate in question will get his/her tongue cut out by a Disgruntled staffer, or else be caught with an intern (of either gender) under his/her desk. Or, even better, be caught saying on camera that Mary Cheney is a lesbian. Or something...anyway, Enough Already with the Obnoxious, Wheedling ads!! We might just be Inclined to vote against whomsoever, purely on the basis of how Moronic their latest ads are! I am Karen the LairMistress, and I approve this message...
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JASON WEBLEY HALLOWEEN CONCERT UPDATE (WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2004): It's getting down to the wire Now, Cronies all!! We're nearly Done postering, the Fall Concert (subtitled "Balloon Feather Boat Tomato") is in its Final rehearsals, and the LairMistress has been Recruited for the show's "Balloon Army", whatever that will entail! We'll be there, at any rate, and hopefully we'll live to tell about it (in another 8-paged Illustrated Screed) a few days Later!! Oh, and of Course, don't forget to bleeping VOTE!!! AAAAARRRRGGGHHH!!!
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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2004: Well, this is one of the few Interesting stories in this area: our poor Gutted volcano decided to fart in the wind Yesterday! It attracted all sorts of Excited attention from park visitors, who were all the happier that they didn't have to run for their lives, as they did when the formerly-Gorgeous conical mountain went Nuclear and eviscerated itself in May 1980. Here, also, is the special USGS St. Helens page with VolcanoCam; the MSN.com Volcano Page with Free Video; and Updated (Monday, October 4) MSN.com Volcano Page, with Slide Show and Free Video, for your perusal...
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September 11, 2001...March 11, 2004...September 4, 2004...the same hatred is killing us all.
"Oh, may we live to see the day when walls of words and fear
No longer stand between the truth and dreams;
When walls of windows rise into the darkness, and we dare
To look into the mirror, and see Peace.
And do you think of me as enemy, and could you call me friend,
Or will we let our differences destroy us in the end?
The walls that stand between us could be a window, too;
When I look into the mirror, I see you."
--Judy Small and Pat Humphries, "Walls and Windows" (song lyrics)
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SPECIAL REPORT (FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2004): Alas, Cronies, we must bid a fond and sad Farewell to our lovely CatSister, Bridget (a/k/a Sis, a/k/a Bridgeen), pictured Above, who passed away on Saturday, September 4, after a brief illness at the age of 15. She who had us Well-Trained to drop everything whenever she required a back-scratching has gone to rejoin her birth mother and late brother, Percy (1989-1995) in the realm of Spirit, but they all are watching over us still, and are Remembered, Cherished and Celebrated with great love by all who knew them.
[UPDATE: Here is Bridget's own Beliefnet Memorial Page!!]
Bridget and Percy were feral kittens to begin with, so it took a while to get them used to human companionship; they never did lose their taste for a good hunt and wild meat of various kinds. But before long, they were fat, happy and spoiled domestic felines as well, growing bigger than average for domestic tabbies (Percy especially, who must have weighed close to 25 pounds as an adult). They were unusually close to each other as well, constantly eating, sleeping and hanging out together. When her brother died of cancer in 1995, Bridgeen was deeply traumatized, and looked for him constantly for weeks afterward. She herself was attacked by a pack of dogs when she was 9 months old, and barely survived. Having recovered, though, she lived for more than 14 more years.
Bridgeen, or Sis (as my parents called her) was pretty much the Alpha Force in our house. She loved all of us, but was known to be mostly a Daddy's Girl, since my Dad was the one who usually fed her. She would sit at the feet of his armchair nearly every day, looking up at him with an adoring gaze in her pale greenish-yellow eyes. My folks usually talked to her in a series of complete sentences, which she seemed to understand quite well. She loved to have her back scratched, with its coat of thick, rabbit-soft fur, and would flop over on her side dramatically to indicate when she wanted it done. She also learned to push one hind leg against the back-scratcher's hand in order to conduct static electricity from the carpet away from her body (which led my Dad to conclude that she had some understanding of the "principles of physics"!).
Moving from Maryland to Tennessee in 1996 was a bit of a traumatic milestone for her, but she soon adjusted to the new environment, wandering the forested neighborhood of Fairfield Glade and tackling the local bird, squirrel and chipmunk populations with abandon. Of course, there were larger predators that she herself needed to watch out for, such as coyotes and hawks, but she managed to dodge them all, with the help of the customized cathouse that my Dad built for her. When not hunting, she slept a lot, especially in the music room armchairs, the guestroom beds (making a telltale lump underneath bedspreads), and anywhere else she could find a bit of sunlight to stretch out in.
Anyway, we will greatly miss Bridgeen and her feline energy which kept a positive vibe in my parents' household for so many years. I get very impatient with the never-ending debate on whether or not pets have souls, as our cats had plenty and to spare! We do hope that my folks will eventually change their minds about having more pets in the future, as their house needs feline energy to keep things bright and upbeat. CATS RULE!!
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Strangely enough, 40 doesn't feel remarkably different than 39. Certain Well-Meaning souls have assured me that 40 is the cutoff point when one's body starts falling Apart. I'm still in one piece for Now, however, so Time to Party!!
Someone just told me today that now I'm old enough to have accumulated a modicum of wisdom, but still young enough to enjoy it. The best bit of wisdom I've learned to date is, "Don't ever grow up completely. Then you start decomposing." Per the close of the Above paragraph, ThereFore, TIME TO PARTY!! Bumbershoot Ahoy!!
Today, BTW, is also the Birthday of Irish musician Liam Clancy and Asian-American actor Keanu Reeves (he's even the same age as the LairMistress)!!
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TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2004: Here is a photo with LairLinks to the New York Protests and Week of Resistance organized around the Republican National Convention now in progress. Our favorite Witch, Starhawk, is there, following an Exhausting schedule of marches, meetings, and trainings as Usual, while reporting back on the proceedings on her website as regularly as she can (our condolences to Star on the Recent invasion of her home garden by local deer!). Also, Michael Moore "crashed the party" at the RNC itself, so to speak, though he was there in official capacity to write articles about it, anyway. He, of course, was booed on sight by the GOP delegates, but he simply shrugged it off as free publicity for Fahrenheit 911. We haven't had much time to report on the mass marches (ranging in size estimates from 120,000 to half-a-million), but suffice it to say that they are way too big to ignore, taking up over 40 blocks of midtown Manhatten as they have. More LairLinks and Updates will follow as we have time to collect them.
Plus, did we mention that this Coming THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2 is the birthday of both the LairMistress and her favorite Irish singer, Liam Clancy?! The LairMistress will be a Cool, Even 40, but we won't give away Liam's age without his Express consent, of course...!!
United For Peace and Justice
NYC Independent Media Center
CounterConvention
Imagine Festival
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MONDAY, AUGUST 9, 2004: In a coastal city on the mainland, there were once many adventurers seeking the right place to go to realize their biggest goals, and make their dearest dreams come true. The most daring navigators set out to find the best places to go to make one’s dreams a reality, and then came back to chart the way for other adventurers to set out in ships and seek their fortunes. One could not build one’s ship alone, however; one needed much help from others with design plans, tools, timber, canvas for sails, and various navigational instruments.
One day, some navigators came sailing into the city port in a fever of excitement, announcing to the entire city that a far island to the east was the best of all places to achieve one’s highest goals. Armed with copies of the navigational maps and charts, a small army of adventurers and entrepreneurs set to work building their ships and planning their voyages to this far island, with all the usual shipbuilding supporters in tow.
One young woman, however, could not seem to find anyone to help in the building of her ship. She had the plans on hand, but very little in the way of timber, tools or nails to build the ship; she had never done any serious building beyond a small canoe or two, and she knew that she could not possibly nail an entire seagoing ship together all by herself. But try as she would, she could not persuade any planners, carpenters, canvas tailors, riggers or navigational tool-fitters to help her build her ship. Anyone she approached for help or even advice told her that they were already occupied in helping others build their crafts, and all insisted that they knew of no one else who was able to help her, either. She set to work several times, trying to put a ship’s frame together on her own from the plans she had obtained, only to see the whole thing fall apart each time because she had no one’s help even in supporting the basic frame.
At the end of the day, she collapsed on her workbench in a state of despair and discouragement, looking at her thus-far failed efforts at shipbuilding through tears of frustration that she kept trying to hide. That is when she noticed the completed ship a few dry docks away from her own. The adventurer who had built this ship had had an immense crew of helpers behind him every step of the way; he had had no shortage of materials, tools and even decorative ornaments; and he had even put together a complete crew to help sail his ship to the far island. He was all ready to set sail the next day, on a beautiful ship, aided and abetted by the best carpenters, shipbuilders and sailors the city had produced in their time.
This simply isn’t fair, she thought. He and I are both aiming to travel to the same far island at the same time; why must he have the best shipbuilding help and sailing crew that one can find in this city, while I am left alone to cobble together a ship with no help from anyone? After much thought and trouble in mind, she finally settled on a plan: since her goal, after all, was to arrive on the far island, ship or no ship, she made up her mind to stow away on the grand-looking craft that her fellow adventurer had just finished that day, decorations and all.
And so, when the adventurer with the completed ship set sail the next day, with great fanfare, away from his home port, he had a stowaway in an empty passenger’s cabin, unbeknownst to himself. Before too long, however, she was discovered by the crew, and brought before the fellow adventurer, who demanded to know why she was stowing on board his ship, instead of building her own. “Funny you should ask”, she retorted. “Your ship was completed in record time because you had the best shipbuilding team and sailing crew to be had in our city, while not a soul would so much as support my ship’s frame or hammer a nail on my behalf. And since you and I are both heading to the far island to seek our fortunes, it only made sense that the adventurer whom no one would help would attempt passage with the adventurer who had every advantage on his side.”
Her fellow adventurer saw her point; but insisted, nonetheless, that there couldn’t be two adventurers on the same ship. Since they were already within sight of the far island, he directed that the young woman and her belongings be given the lifeboat, a dory-sized craft, and a set of oars to help her reach their intended destination. Before leaving on the lifeboat, she thanked him for his generosity in not simply booting her overboard; then, picking up her oars, she set off, and in fact reached the far island at about the same time as the adventurer with his own lovely ship. Thus it is with many of us, my friends; if no one will come to your aid in reaching your hoped-for destination, you must learn resourcefulness in getting there; and if all else fails, sneak a ride in the trunk of those who drive the biggest bandwagon.
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SPECIAL REPORT (MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 2004): Today, once Again, is the death anniversary of both our Beloved Qawwali artist, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1948-1997), and an equally-Beloved American icon, Elvis Presley (1935-1977). We have just done our seventh annual memorial observance for Nusrat at Agape Lutheran Chapel in Seattle, and we invite all who love and miss Nusrat and/or Elvis to light a candle and sing a song in honor of one or both of them. Unfinished business was recalled. The energy in the chapel sanctuary was very Powerful InDeed. Let us hope that good will come of our Remembrance...
Let Seven be a charm. Let it happen, and let it begin now. Dream-Stealing has got to go. What is Remembered, Lives.
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TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2004: Hang on a minute, LairCronies; we're still ReCovering from this one! I'll be back writing Shortly; looks like I might be Recruited for some office correspondence at present...
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Okay, I'm back! Folks, the Lair is quite Assured by now that our sweet lads of Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali, with whom we were ReUnited this weekend after an absence of four years, are thoroughly Fired Up and definitely Going Places! We thought Rizwan and Muazzam were total fireballs from the time we first saw them at the WOMAD-USA Festival in Redmond, WA in July 1999 (they were only 20 and 18 years old, respectively, at the time); but they are getting better all the time with age and experience, and show no signs of slowing down! Muazzam, in particular, seems to be channeling Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, with a pure ferocity, at every possible opportunity. He's also got a new haircut, and appears to be a good sixty pounds lighter than when we last saw him. We find them both to be very friendly and handsome lads, in any case, coming from one of the taller branches of their family.
Riz and myself had quite a Wild time this past weekend, first attending the group's Triple Door gig in downtown Seattle on Friday, and then organizing a Private appearance for them on Saturday, at the Thai Pearl Restaurant on Roosevelt Way, near Northgate. All kinds of Bizarre things happened on that second gig--the power went out early that afternoon all over the block where the restaurant is Situated, and we had to run out and rent a rather large generator. The poor ladies running the place were nearly driven Postal by the bunch of us tearing the place Apart, rearranging tables, chairs and booths from one side of the room to another, bringing in the heating equipment for the dinner party, and setting up the sound system on a large foam board stage (but hey, at least they got a free carpet cleaning out of us, and we put everything Back, more or less, where it belonged at the end of the night, around 2:00 AM or so)! I was joking with members of the group as to how they were going to need candles to light up the stage, when suddenly the light and power came back on ("God said, Let there be light!" I exclaimed), just as the group were getting Ready for a second soundcheck, and the first of the audience members were coming Inside for dinner.
Among the audience were Drs. Tom and Lorraine Sakata, devoted long-time friends and fans of Nusrat and family. Riz excitedly coerced Dr. Lorraine to introduce the group, seeing as how she was one of the first to see them perform as young lads in Lahore, Pakistan, when they were a mere 9 and 11 years old. The show was a little late in getting started, but nobody seemed to mind, when Qawwalis both old and new were shaking the foundations of the restaurant, people began dancing and tossing hundreds of dollar bills over the heads of the group, and Rizwan and Muazzam were blazing through one improvised solo after another with energy Aplenty to carry them through the whole night or longer. By the end of that second show, it was beyond dispute to anyone who attended either gig that Nusrat and his cousin Mujahid Mubarak Ali Khan (Rizwan and Muazzam's late father) have left their music in very Worthy hands. We're hoping to see much more of them in the future (despite the most Unfortunate situation of several group members not being able to enter the U.S. due to incomplete birth records), and to help them out with their Expanding performing career as much as we can manage! We wish you all every success with the rest of the tour, lads! Come back very soon!!
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TUESDAY, JULY 6, 2004: Oh, my, what a stick o' dynamite our ol' pal Michael Moore has thrown into the Never-Ending national debate on stuff!! His new film of Blinding political awareness, the award-winning Fahrenheit 9/11, is taking the country by Firestorm--it made over $22 million its first weekend (June 25-27) in 900-some theaters NationWide, and now is expanding its range, even with all the right-wing efforts to stop its release! I went to see it on Thursday, July 1 (I almost never go to a big film on opening night; one has a terrible time getting in), nearly a week after it opened, and there was still a line of several hundred people snaking around the block waiting for the Neptune Theater's doors to open. Needless to say, it is a truly Amazing film--hilarious, heartbreaking, and full of gasp-inducing "Holy S**t!!" moments by turns; it is by far Michael Moore's best film release to date. It stands to do considerable damage to the Bush Administration's image and re-election campaign (and, of course, if they tried to do anything to the guy, the backlash would be a hundred times worse--so they're up a creek Regardless!). And, needless to say, the film is getting all sorts of mud and abuse slung at it by conservatives (most of whom haven't seen it) who accuse Mr. Moore and his fans of "hating America."
"Hating America" is a popular accusation for right-wingers to toss around these days--whatever it's supposed to mean. Is America some Divine Being about whom no one should express a negative thought? I am an American, and I love my country; but "American" is my nationality, not my religion. I love America, but I don't worship it. And why criticism of the current administration and its policies is tantamount to "hating America" rather escapes me. A letter-writer to one of our local newspapers tossed the same allegation at the U.S. Supreme Court recently, after their ruling that prisoners at our Guantanamo Bay prison facility are entitled to due process and access to counsel, and that Darth Dubya and his junta are not above the law, national or international.
The funny thing about right-wingers ranting about their political opponents "hating America" is that some of these folks have never stopped attacking Bill Clinton, and that guy has been out of office for three and a half years. But if you dare say a word against George Dubya or the late Ronald Reagan, by God, you must somehow "hate America"! Apparently, therefore, you only hate America if you attack a Republican president; the Democratic ones are fair game. Anyway, Michael Moore's contribution to "hating America" is simply to point out that Dubya's real agenda in invading and occupying Iraq had nothing to do with WMD's or "liberating" anyone, and everything to do with grabbing and privatizing Iraq's resources (formerly nationalized and under Saddam Hussein's control and contract), and helping his buddies in the Corporate Oligarchy make tons of new money, as if they were broke and starving in the first place. Here at the Lair, we will contribute to "hating America" in our turn by pointing out the FACTS that George Bush and Saddam Hussein have both declared themselves above the law, national (each of his own country's laws) and international; they have both defied international law, disregarded world opinion, and thumbed their noses at the United Nations, international treaties and the international community; and both of them have tortured people, massacred innocent civilians (in the same country), and murdered people in their custody (in the same freaking PRISONS, no less!). And, of course, they both possess (or possessed) weapons of mass destruction, all of which were made right here in the good ol' U.S. of A.!! Therefore, in our estimation, Dubya and Saddam are simply flip sides of the same coin; they are both Bloody Bonkers; and they ought to be sharing a cell at the International Criminal Court right now. There! We said it!! Guess a lot of right-leaning LairLurkers will say we "hate America" too. So sue us.
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SPECIAL BELATED BIRTHDAY REPORT (WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 2004):...I must be Losing It completely, that's What!! The Lair's Third Birthday was a week Ago this past Sunday--Sunday, June 20--and what was I doing? Getting SunBurnt busking at the Fremont Fair, and looking around for more Naked Bicyclists to chase! The third anniversary of the Lair slipped my mind as utterly as if it had never existed! Oh, well, it was a fun Sunday. Happy Belated Birthday to Us, anyway!! Whatever...
SPECIAL UPDATE (TUESDAY, JULY 13, 2004): We just did the Laborious Archive-Shuffling again, folks! All the archived entries from 2003 are now in the 2003 Archive Lair. The 2004 stuff is being divided by half-year between Archive Lair 1 and Archive Lair 2. And we're all really glad we only have to fling that crap around twice a year Nowadays...!!
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FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2004: So, what's been happening lately, LairCronies, and what's Coming Up...?
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SO, WHERE IS JASON WEBLEY ON HIS EUROPEAN TOUR BY NOW? This being Friday, June 18, Jason is supposed to be playing Ypres, Belgium tonight, at a venue called Vort'n'Vis. A Quick Recap: Jason's Russian tour stretched from May 20 through the 27th with gigs in Obneensk, Moscow, St. Petersburg and, as a bonus, two days in the region known in Russia as Novosibirsk (that's Siberia to us Anglos!). Then came a sprint through Ukraine between May 29 and June 1, followed by an even faster Whirlwind through Vienna, Prague and Budapest during June 2-5. We don't know if the same "Balloon Orchestra" has been with him all Along or not. Assuming all is running on Schedule, a longer tour of Germany followed, with gigs every night, during June 6-15 (venue details, by the way, can be looked up on Jason's Concerts Page). Finally, this past Wednesday and Thursday allegedly found Jason doing two shows in The Netherlands. Of course, The Lair wishes Jason every success and the best of luck, though, once Again, we can't vouch for the quality of fresh vegetables in Europe...
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SPECIAL REPORT (FRIDAY, JUNE 11, 2004): Well, LairLurkers all, as most of you know Already, former President Ronald Reagan passed away last Saturday, June 5, and we were all Engrossed watching his state funeral at Washington, DC's National Cathedral this morning. As one might expect, even before the man breathed his last, debates were churning and frothing all over the planet about his legacy, what Reagan was Really Like, whether or not he actually "won the Cold War without firing a shot", and what people remembered most about the 40th U.S. President, including quotes and quips attributed to him after he narrowly escaped assassination.
What I remember most about the 1980's under Reagan (when I was in my last half of senior high school, and in college between 1982 and 1986) is two Uncomfortable phenomena. The First was the feeling that, as a progressive and a feminist, I no longer belonged in my own country or my own church after the 1980 presidential election. The neoconservative movement took over civil society, and the Religious Right took over Christianity in America. The message both groups (by now, pretty much the same entity) pounded out day by day was that only conservatives were true Americans, true patriots and true Christians. Progressives and feminists were the enemy; we did not belong, and were no longer welcome, in either body. It was highly difficult for people like me to be ourselves, and to speak our true minds, during that period. You were doing well if you could stand your ground whether your views were popular or not. For twelve long years (including the Reagan and Bush I Administrations) I felt alienated and in exile from major parts of my identity.
The Second phenomenon was that the neoconservative movement made it fashionable not to give a damn about the less fortunate. Reagan's media eulogists now claim that Reaganomics made us all more prosperous and optimistic after the 70's "malaise", Watergate and Vietnam; but the new prosperity and optimism did not lay their blessing upon all equally. The wealthy and business owners took the tax cuts intended to "trickle down" to everyone else and pretty much pocketed them, printing up a fake capital gains spike on their financials that year. In neoconservative orthodoxy, your own family and a few close friends were the only ones you were supposed to care about; anyone struggling or down on their luck were blamed for their circumstances and written off as of little consequence. Those of us who did care and try to help others were sneered at as "bleeding-heart liberal do-gooders" (even by people calling themselves "born-again Christians"). And forget about poor people in other countries, and people massacred as accused "communists" by Reagan's favorite dictators. To the neocons, those people never existed.
Back then, moreover, Reagan was treated as a kind of Messiah figure who should never be questioned or criticized (despite being one of the country's first pro-choice governors!). As an undergraduate at William and Mary, I found the little campus swarming with fanatical 18-year-old Reagan followers who thought the man was Jesus Christ, he could do no wrong, Period, End of Discussion. It apparently escaped them that Reagan himself never claimed to be iconic or infallible. I still remember Easter Sunday, 1983, not long after Reagan delivered his infamous "Evil Empire" speech. I was visiting a certain Pentecostal church in Williamsburg with some friends, where, during a highly emotional sermon, the earnest young Charismatic pastor compared (without a hint of irony) the crucifixion of Jesus with the recent pillorying of Reagan by "the Washington Post and other liberal publications ("The Washington Post is a 'liberal publication'?!!" I sputtered to myself)." This memory came back to me especially clearly this past week when legions of the same Reagan-is-Jesus crowd came out of the woodwork once again, weepily replaying The Passion of the Gipper some twenty years after the fact.
Even so, despite all the aforementioned, I haven't had the heart this week to be angry at Ronald Reagan personally, or to bear him too much ill will. I mean, the poor old bugger was 93 and barely remembered his own name. I also don't blame him personally for all the sins of the neocons. In fact, I am happy for him that he's finally free of the illness that destroyed his mind; and I've often wanted to tell Nancy Reagan that her Ronnie was not in that coffin she kept caressing, that he's right there beside her and probably will remain so for quite a while, now that his mind is finally Intact once again. Still, I cannot celebrate the feeling of alienation and Not Belonging that plagued me during his entire tenure; and I know that the uncaring, plutocratic neoconservative movement, of which he was the primary standard-bearer, was anything but a reflection of the teachings of Christ. We at the Lair wish Ronnie and his surviving family Peace and Joy, but may he also see clearly the full ramifications and effects of the political doctrines that he espoused, now that he has a chance to review his life and its impacts, both positive and negative.
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FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 2004: Ugh...They say a small meteorite blazed a path OverHead, across much of western Washington, the night before last at around 2:40 am; and Yours Truly, slapped with a nasty cold for having the temerity to pray for more cash while busking, was zonked Out Cold on Nyquil, and missed the whole show. Of course, had I been Awake at the time, I probably would have mistaken it for a police helicopter strafing Belltown with its headlights turned way up. The local TV outlets are Busy collecting video footage from amateurs in the community, and some of it is quite Impressive, at least for all of a second or two.
Well, at least the cold bug stayed more or less Dormant through most of Folklife. I prayed and chanted for more wealth as a busker; instead, I didn't make a whole lot (just enough for bare necessities), and had a whole slew of bad luck, including busted fingernails and rained-on instruments requiring a new coat of polish. However, I did reunite with old Folklife friends like Irish-Jewish-Canadian singer Paddy Graber, and Bella the Burmese Python, with her human parents and new baby brother. Bella slipped off my shoulders in the Hospitality room at one point, and landed rather Hard on the linoleum floor, but I was assured that she was doing just fine when I checked in on her by email Later. We didn't get to hear all the East African music featured in this year's "Horn of Africa" festival theme, but we did discover several very Impressive artists that we'd never heard of prior to the festival. Especially Ali Birra--he da Man!! I still didn't get to play on a stage, but there were plenty of places to play for tips, if one got onto the grounds plenty Early each morning, and if the weather held. We were sorry to learn that Amber Tide vocalist Sandahbeth Spae was hospitalized over the weekend and unable to sing at the festival as Scheduled. I think the only workshop I made it to was Steve and Kristi Nebel's "Book Your Own Tour" workshop, held on Monday afternoon in the Learning Lab of the Experience Music Project, at right about the time the Monorail was catching fire directly OverHead. Believe it or not, Cronies, I didn't even hear about that till I turned on the KING-5 11:00 news that night! As Expected, the fire has set the whole pro vs. con debate about expanding the Monorail freshly Ablaze. Personally, I wouldn't mind having a DC- or London-style underground train network here in Seattle, if it was earthquake-safe and run cheaply and efficiently.
In any case, folks, I really feel the need to expand my income, even if I have to go about it in UnConventional (but still Legal) ways. Giving up on my Musical and other Creative work is not an option, but the work needs to diversify. Thus the tour-booking info will likely be Useful in booking gigs here, as well, once I get well and get my voice back. Confidential to whatever Higher Power hit me with a cold for requesting wealth as a busker: That wasn't nice. If you have any better ideas about how to increase my cash flow, I'm all ears. In the meantime, since you aren't doing a bloody thing to help me, stay out of the way and stop throwing wrenches in the works! Peace out.
More later. Stay Tuned re: the money process...
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THURSDAY, MAY 27, 2004: Lordy, folks, the weather the past couple of days has been absolutely Hideous!! Almost nonstop downpours from early Yesterday, and it's gotten heavier here in the U-District in just the past hour or so! And here it is, on the eve of the 2004 Northwest Folklife Festival, which can't afford too much bad weather if it wants to stay Afloat (no pun Intended)! I've just gotten back from my last pre-festival volunteer gig, and I do hope that it clears off by tomorrow, as I've got a full Memorial Day weekend of busking and volunteering to do!
I'm also trying to reach my Mom by phone, it being her birthday Today (she probably doesn't want me to divulge which birthday here, though!). I just sent her an e-card, and will send off a belated hardcopy card, with a couple of gift items, when I'm in funds by next Tuesday, June 1st.
A special word of Farewell is in order for Dappin' Butoh's Intimate Stage, which just held its Final performances (for now, at least) at the home of Joan Laage and David Thornbrugh. I attended the Saturday performance, helped with the setup (while walking across a stage floor covered in 750 pounds of salt!), and gave them a copy of my demo CD as a going-away present. We'll miss the intimate Butoh salons every month, the chance to meet practitioners of this dance form from all over the planet; Chica, the affectionate, papaya-loving kittycat; and, of course, David's luscious vegetarian cuisine. They may be having a garage sale before they move to Poland via Prague, however, so we may get to see them one last time anyway...
Anyway, back to work getting ready for the Festival this weekend; hope I'm properly brushed up on my singing-with-fiddle drones routine, and that I don't bust too many fingernails while playing guitar instrumentals...
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WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 2004: Wow, folks, this past Street Fair Weekend was more EventFul than we had originally planned! I was out busking most of the time the Street Fair was going on; tips were rather slow, but I sold a few demo CD's to balance things out. I figured out pretty quickly that I would never be Seen or Heard playing at my Usual spot outside the UW Bookstore; I actually had to get out into the street (with no amplification, of course) adjacent to the vendor tents in order to get people's attention--and, of course, to meet all the friendly dogs in attendance.
And, of course, then there was Jason Webley's "Secret" gathering outside of Everett, which turned out to be a going-away party for his current Russian tour (see Below)! I took two Sound Transit buses to get up there; once at the shopping center nearest the party site, I discovered that I'd lost the address I'd written down from Jason's email. In a state of panic, I made a couple of phone calls to people I sort-of know in Snohomish County who (1) might know how to direct me and (2) were listed in the phonebook. In the end, I was able to reach the hosts and get a ride to the house shortly before Jason and a bunch of Cronies arrived from various parts of Western Washington. The hostess, Joan Robinson, hastily organized a welcoming ceremony involving a basket to be filled with vegetables and special blessings, which we presented to Jason as he came up the walkway, and he gave us all thanks and hugs in return.
What followed was lots of great food, music, video footage, trampolining, tree-climbing and singalongs, both indoors and outdoors (well, no trampolining and tree-climbing indoors, of course!), and altogether a lovely, Magical celebration of life, love, music, friendship and community! The hardcore Cronies in Jason's Western Washington community came together once more (and phoned others who joined in the celebration from Afar, teleconference-style) and shared music, food and companionship; lots of photos and video footage were taken Besides, and are still being Posted as we write! Jason finally had to leave to pack for the trip to Russia around 10:30 or so, but I managed to give him a copy of the new CD demo that I recorded in February, partly as an early birthday/going-away present, and partly just to share a few songs with him. Anyway, details of the current tour of Russia and Europe are now being researched. Wish we could all go Along, if only to carry the bags of noisemakers...!!
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FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2004: Good afternoon, LairPals! The University District Street Fair is just on the horizon (read: this weekend), and we are tuning up and exercising our vocal cords for the occasion! We're also hoping to make lots of cash (maybe even sell a few short CD's!) and wishing for "happy accidents" to befall us, as is being said of the British pop artist Dido, profiled today in a Seattle PI article. We'd best be sure to pack the ancient bottle of sunscreen while we're at it, as the weather is supposed to be fairly clear and warm this weekend (though, of course, it's getting more UnPredictable all the time)! We'll definitely need a bit of extra cash if we plan to go north on Sunday evening for the "Secret" gathering I've gotten emails on (I've promised not to publicize that one, at least until after the fact)!
By the way, my fellow Dorothy Day House residents and I are wondering if we've got ghosts on the premises. Something or someone is tapping on the 2nd floor ceiling, and it can be heard all over the second floor. Some of us on the 3rd floor are also hearing someone/-thing hammering on the walls, as if hanging pictures or shelves, at all hours of the night. This has happened right over my head Numerous times, though my next-door neighbor would most likely not even be Awake at that time, much less hammering nails into the wall. If there are DisEmbodied interior decorators in the place, someone ought to speak up and remind them that Quiet Hours in the building run from 10:00 pm until 8:00 am most days, and that they should lay off the picture-hanging during the Wee Hours...
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JASON WEBLEY MAY 2004 TOUR UPDATE (FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2004): Well, here we have the Official close-out of the 2004 West Coast tour, Webley Cronies! Jason may well be back in our fair state by now! Today, Friday, May 14, marks his return visit to Heart and Soul Studio for tonight's gig in Olympia, WA--a four-hour drive straight north from Eugene, OR! Tomorrow, Saturday, May 15, will find Jason at the north end of the state, at the GAF Church in Bellingham, WA, after another roughly-three-hour drive north. And Sunday, May 16 will be the date of the "Secret" event divulged to only the first XX emailers, which we'll try to make it to, if we can tear ourselves Away from the Street Fair!!
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MONDAY, MAY 3, 2004: Oh my God, it's Happened. My black canvas bag with all my paper junk and a handful of disks featuring original art and photos has gone Missing, after I left it behind the counter at Dan's Grocery in my neighborhood last night, purchased some toilet paper, and then forgot to retrieve the bag as I was leaving!! After I remembered where I left it this morning, I ran back up to Dan's in search of the bag, but it's missing from behind their counter, too, and they can't seem to find it anywhere else. Of course, there's nothing in there that anyone else would want to lug Around, but I really would like to have the bag and its contents Back, even though most of said contents would be easy enough to replace. I'm here at New Wave Travel now, still awaiting word on its Possible whereabouts.
Meanwhile, Jason Webley, the Newly-Reborn 2004 edition (with his hair almost as long as mine by Now!) has done his May Eve Seedy Release Party, a Lovely, Wacky, balloon-filled endeavor ending up at Freeway park with more hot-air balloons and a giant papier-mache asparagus that refused to stand up as a proper May Pole (though we danced around it a few times Anyway)! Fine reviews and photogalleries have been posted Already by Josh Larios, Eric Soroos, Michael Hanscom and Carl Frisk, so I probably don't need to write endless pages of the same details Here. But let us say that the community came joyously back together again (Jason's shows, by now, are almost as much about community as they are about music!), balloons in the shape of hearts, phalluses and carrots were very much in evidence, and two guys in the crowd got naked in the park amid all the Beltaine festivities, and thank God the cops weren't too near the vicinity! Also, we're all very thankful it didn't rain this time, and that the giant asparagus didn't collapse on top of me while I was holding down the base, and the Punk Rock Faerie slua seem to have done their job once Again (but we won't go there in any detail...)!!
UPDATE ON CANVAS BAG (TUESDAY, 3:41 PDT): The Sacrosanct bag o' tricks is Once Again in our possession, Safe and Sound, with none of the paper junk Missing!! All's well that ends well.
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SPECIAL REPORT (FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 2004): Seattle's Town Hall awaits us this evening, me Stalwart Cronies, for the unveiling of Jason Webley's new Seedy Release, Only Just Beginning! He claims that this is his "fourth and final CD", but then, he always says each year's Death Concert is his "last show", so who knows what "fourth and final" actually means. Will a slua or two of Punk Rock Faeries be needed on standby? I hope not, but we'll be having them on standby AnyWay, just in case. In the meantime, my email's server picked this afternoon to go down, so I can't get into my email to see if my guestlist email reply has been confirmed yet! Well, anyway, we'll be headed down to Town Hall early this evening, to see what transpires, hopefully with a crowd matching the Death Day audience in size and vocal power! And then, of course, we'll be monitoring Jason's summer tour schedule as much as we have time for, while ordering some more CD demos and continuing to tour our region's best open mic spots and busking sites. 'Bout time we got paid to do this stuff, too!!
After all, the LairMistress has been studying Jason as a Muse and Role Model for the past almost-three years now, while trying to figure out how to promote herself with Equal passion. We've been watching his senses of planning, self-discipline and organization, combined with a passion for life experience, changing things around and trying out new experiences. How to promote ourselves and the Lair, too, equally well? Probably by doing pretty much the same things! This came to me while sticking up Jason's CD Release flyers over the past couple of weeks--namely, that I should be doing such things on my own behalf, too, if I wish to progress in my own musical job! I need my own full-length EP or LP CD recording to sell on my own and promote online, just as we've seen Jason and other musicians doing, as well as gradually branching out and expanding our geographic and cultural sphere of musical influence. Now, as for the LairMistress's USP (Unique Selling Proposition, as they call it at Taxi.com), that calls for a bit more study and introspective thinking...
Also, check out Jason's flash e-card with all the songs from the new CD included in it, plus the nice articles on tonight's show from the Seattle Times and Seattle Weekly!
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MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2004: Good afternoon Once Again, LairLurkers!! As of today, I am several days into a root canal procedure on my upper right canine, which was discovered to have bitten the dust about a month ago, when I went to the University of Washington Emergency Dental Clinic for a strange gum infection right over that tooth. I thought it was just gingivitis to start with, but it kept sticking around and getting worse, despite regular brushing and flossing, which is not the usual pattern with gingivitis. Turns out the infection was the outward manifestation of a tooth abcess, and the canine's pulp tissue, after some tests and x-rays, was declared "nonviable" and "necrotic", i.e. dead. And so, I've just completed round one of a three (?)-appointment root canal procedure. Round One was last Thursday, when a third-year student at the UW Endodontic Clinic drilled into the back of the canine with the rest of my teeth shielded by a dental dam (which I always thought was simply a safe-sex implement!); cleaned out the inside with some tiny, flexible files, stuffed the root canal with temporary rubber-cementish stuff, and painted over the whole with some sort of chalky, rough cementish stuff. Round two should be next Thursday, when the whole procedure will be repeated, only this time with permanent cementish stuff replacing the temporary cementish stuff. Keeping all this straight in your heads? Me neither. Round three may involve crown placement, but I'm not sure about that, as the tooth is pretty much intact as is, and the procedure didn't involve drilling through the top of it. In any case, one of my teeth is quickly on its way to becoming a largely Artificial body part. Strange part is, it really hasn't involved any Serious pain to speak of. Perhaps if I bit down on something really hard, it would be painful; but I've been handling that tooth with kid gloves ever since last Thursday. Hopefully all the cementing will keep it Functional.
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JASON WEBLEY GHOSTWATCH UPDATE (ALSO MONDAY, APRIL 23): The ghost is very Worried. We've gotten several group emails from him mentioning that ticket sales for the May Eve Rebirth Concert are not nearly where they should be at this point, less than two weeks ahead of the show. So pass on the news, Mateys! We, once Again, have volunteered for Street Team duties (posting flyers, cards, etc. all over creation for the concert), and we encourage all who visit the site to Contact Jason and offer to help out with this concert, it being once again at Seattle's Town Hall. This is the official CD Release for the new album, "Only Just Beginning", and we are very much looking forward to both the show and the new release! So everyone, please do come out to this concert and give Jason a Rousing sendoff for this year's Touring Season!!
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FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2004: Happy Good Friday, LairLurkers, as we approach the Lair's 3rd Birthday!! As Usual, we've forgotten once again why J.C.'s death anniversary is called "Good Friday." It's only been in the past couple of years that we've gotten the hang of predicting the date of Easter via Lunar Calendar: the first Sunday after the first full moon after Spring Equinox (the Jewish Passover begins on the first full moon proper). But anyway, the term "Good Friday", we think, comes from the Anglo-Saxon term for something or other. As for Lent, it comes from the Anglo-Saxon lengten, as applied to the lengthening of days in Springtime. Hence, we have been observing Lent as the Festival of Lengthening Days (dedicated to welcoming the newly-emerging plant and animal life), inspired by our friends in "The Young Clan Mother's Tale", for the past several years.
The World Rhythm Festival last weekend was a good one, but a couple of beyond-Strange things happened. Around 1:30 Saturday, the Center House had to be evacuated due to a fire alarm going off. And later, unfortunately, in the same location, we witnessed the Sudden collapse and death by cardiac arrest of dance workshop instructor Yosheh Amayo-Baptiste, almost immediately after she had finished dancing with an African drumming group on the Center House stage. She had just finished teaching an Afro-Latin dance workshop around 1:00 pm the same day. Paramedics and firefighters worked to save her for over half an hour, but were unable to get her heart going again. As she was carried out on a stretcher, covered with a white sheet, many people stood up and began clapping slowly (a traditional gesture to give honor to someone who has recently passed on). We also noticed that, at the Drum Circle immediately following this, several seagulls continuously hovered over the Circle while the Medic One ambulances were still Nearby, then dispersed right after the ambulances left. We didn't know Ms. Baptiste, but the Lair nonetheless sends out sincere condolences to her family and friends, and thanks and respect to Yosheh herself for all her hard and HeartFelt work on behalf of Afro-Latin/Afro-Caribbean dance traditions over the years.
As for music closer to home, the Lair plans a proposal to send to all-ages clubs regarding the LairMistress's plot to transplant acoustic traditions into the club scene. We also figure that we need to obtain capital funding to produce more saleable products in the music, writing and visual/ceramic arts areas, more funding than we are currently obtaining through busking, etc. Maybe benefit shows can be arranged somehow (?). Or perhaps the ancient Purported healing properties of eggs can also be invoked for increased prosperity. 'Bout time we found something that can increase our fortunes! Didn't we see something Online a while back about "praying and growing rich"...?!
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JASON WEBLEY GHOSTWATCH UPDATE (FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2004): Someone who posts entries in Jason's Livejournal Community has only this week posted Recent photos of Jason and one of his puppet alter egos! We're down to the final stretch toward Town Hall on May Eve, Cronies!! AAAAARRRRRGGHH!!
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2004: Well, LairCronies, another year, another march, and the war rages On. Not only in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also in DC, the White House, the Pentagon, and the 9/11 Commission. Darth Dubya and Company are Squirming and Scrambling to answer accusations by their own former insiders, and they can't all be branded Disgruntled Former Employees, not by a long shot!
Anyway, we had a good time this past Saturday, as our very own Rebel Alliance got a good 10,000 or so people out for the March 20 rally and march regarding What We Were Right About All Along. No doubt Darth Dubya still considers us a "focus group." Newsflash to Dubya: this focus group VOTES, and it won't be for him!! In other news, the debate continues Unabated on the film The Passion of the Christ: Jesus meets Braveheart, and POP! goes a very old Can o' Worms. The Stranger's favorite dominatrix, Mistress Matisse (no relation to the LairMistress), has even weighed in on the film from a BDSM standpoint! ElseWhere, the Lair's favorite gay Christian du jour, the Rev. Karen Dammann, has been acquitted in her disciplinary trial, and the God-hates-fags crowd is going Bloody Bonkers all over the country (Good Lord, she even got MARRIED not long ago!). Finally, our favorite Witch, Starhawk, is now back in Israel/Palestine, training new classes of nonviolent resisters and ISM Internationals, taking part in nonviolent actions against wall-building and home demolitions, and grieving the recent death of her former trainee, British ISM member Tom Hurndall. Take care and Blessed Be, Star!!
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JASON WEBLEY GHOSTWATCH UPDATE (WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2004): Go ye to Jason's Homepage, Pirate Cronies, and see what's Afoot for April 30 at Town Hall in Seattle!! Another Big Seedy Release looms just around the corner (well, okay, a little over a month Away)!! Likewise, check out the Recent Webley sighting up north in Granite Falls, recorded in the Jason Webley Community Journal not so long Ago! But alas, the same sad dread overtakes me yet again, to think that another Faerie battle may be Afoot over Jason the Rhymer. A song-tale describing the last such event will be posted Soon Enough...
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Today, We Are All Spanish.
TOGETHER ACROSS THE WORLD!!
Yahoo! Special Spain LairLinks
CNN Solidarity with Spain Special Page
Massacre in Madrid: Indymedia.org Special Report
Madrid Train Attacks: BBC News In Depth
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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2004: We're back Again, LairPals!! The infamous committee meeting yesterday wasn't quite as Excruciating as I feared it would be, but I still didn't make it back here in anything like a Timely fashion. So I just stayed home and did the laundry Instead.
Now for the Big News Items: I've got a new 4-song CD demo made!! This is thanks mainly to Thaddeus Spae of Bard's Cathedral Studio (also part of the folk duo Amber Tide) in West Seattle, but also thanks partly to my friend and fellow busker, Greg Spence Wolf, who Repeatedly referred and recommended me to Thaddeus to begin with! Now that we've got freshly burned copies of the demo in hand, we are presently Engaged in Feverish assembly and mailing of demo packages to all our Favorite festivals!! Another short run of demo copies will soon be desperately needed, Thaddeus! And many thanks Once Again!!
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In other news, we are once again feeling the energy of our fin-de-siècle friend and inspiration, Anglo-Irish author Oscar Wilde. Perhaps he's been attracted by all the Recent to-do about gay marriage, and the new Jesus film, Mel Gibson's highly graphic "The Passion of the Christ", just released Yesterday in time for Ash Wednesday. Oscar, on this plane, was always fascinated by Christ, and the mystical relationship of the Spiritual and the Erotic. We've been consulting with Wilde for advice on structure and long-term planning in artistic self-employment, and he's been happy to oblige, to the best of his ability. In other words, Oscar is the LairMistress's new Career Coach, but she's been very much in love with the old chap ever since High School. Here, then, are some of our new/current favorite Wildean LairLinks, along with the Regrettable news that the World Wilde Web and Wilde: The Movie sites appear to be down, for some reason:
Oscariana.net
Mr. O.W.: Oscar Wilde (lovely Belgian site)
Oscar Wilde's Official Homepage
Wilde at Heart: BBC News Collection
British Library: Oscar Wilde Centenary Events
Random Oscar Wilde Quote Generator
Oscar Wilde Recording: (For real or not? Still debated)
...And then there's that Oscar Wilde Seance Site. Too Weird for words, but it's popping up on search engines Everywhere...
Regarding the Oscariana site, we encourage all Wilde fans and other LairLurkers to donate to the site (via PayPal) to help out with the server costs!
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And Finally, be sure to Stay Tuned for the next Global Protest on March 20, the one-year anniversary of the Shocking Awfulness that insisted on calling itself "Operation Iraqi Freedom"! The Seattle activist LairLinks Below have current information about what is happening in your area! The hammer is steadily falling on Darth Dubya and his fellow war profiteers; now even 9/11 families and former Pentagon insiders are calling bullshit on these charlatans! TOGETHER ACROSS THE WORLD!!
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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2004: ...Not that there's anything Unusual in that! But while we've been running around with our heads off, there's a to-do list on our desk that's growing bigger by the hour, plus some Recent news items, not all of them Happy.
The Bad News first: As if this world wasn't in a Crumbling and Disoriented state Already, two folk music giants recently opted to depart this plane for that mighty Jam Session in the Sky: Johnny Cunningham (of Silly Wizard, Relativity, Nightnoise, etc.), one of the finest fiddlers of the past half-century, died of a heart attack on December 15, 2003 at age 46. And Tom Rowe of Schooner Fare, he who played bass while singing high tenor, died of throat cancer on January 17, 2004 at age 54. Besides their bereaved families and friends, they leave behind a band without its bassman, and a twin brother/accordionist without his fiddling counterpart. And now, on some more Positive Notes...
Special Birth Announcement: After several months of Anxious waiting for news, we've finally heard of the Blessed Event at the household of our friends Ellen and Jeff Garff, with the birth of their son Evan. Only problem is, we don't yet have full details on his exact birthdate, features, etc. (he arrived sometime in November, we think); but we will post them as soon as they become Available! Congratulations to Ellen and Jeff and their extended families!!
Jason Webley Ghostwatch Update: Check out Jason's Homepage now for your first sighting of a new CD album cover, and Advance Warning of what is planned for May Eve of this year!! Contents of the New Seedy Release are as yet Unknown...
And Finally, to summarize the To-Do List: Well, good LairLurkers, I've finally resumed busking, after a month-long hiatus working on Computer Art and sitting out some really Hideous Seattle winter weather. I also have to send in early applications for local and regional Music Festivals; arrange to record a new studio demo for Promo Purposes; sell some of the Aforementioned computer art; get other compartments of the Lair in a presentable condition; and finish backing up the short story/novella "The Young Clan Mother's Tale" on disk, while also finishing the writing of "Why Must My City Be Burned?". At least we got the Democratic Caucus done last weekend, in which the turnout was several times what was Expected, StateWide, and both Kerry and Dean had good showings. Now, OnWard and UpWard...
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SPECIAL REPORT (MONDAY, JANUARY 19, 2004): Together Across the World, Friends and LairCronies!! I've just come from our annual rally and march into downtown Seattle in observance of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday--it would have been his 75th, believe it or not. Seattleites of color, white ones as well, trade unionists, antiwar activists, supporters of various Democratic presidential candidates, people of all different ethnicities, faiths, socioeconomic persuasions, all marched together in the thousands from Garfield High School to a rally at Seattle's Federal Building. It was very cool--but it would be Cooler Still if all these different strands of Seattle's larger community could gather, network and dialogue across divides far more often.
Much talk, as usual, has focussed on what stand the late Dr. King would have taken on the Iraq invasion and occupation, on the Patriot Act, etc., and who he would support in this year's Presidential contest, if he were available on this plane for comment. Since I'm not trained in mediumship, I don't have explicit answers to these questions myself. It's a safe bet, however, that he would have regarded the human and economic cost of our current illegal occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan as every bit as Obscene, if not more so, than he regarded the cost of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam in his time. His words on the subject would probably be even more to the point than those of Michael Moore, Felicity Arbuthnot and Scott Ritter. And, like as not, he would have everyone from John Ashcroft to Ann Coulter accusing him of sedition and treason.
Here at the Lair, we are also Dreamers and VisionKeepers. I have a dream of an America built on freedom of spirit, not on any one sectarian religious tradition. I dream of a nation not obsessed with being an Empire, at the cost of becoming a Rogue Superpower in the process. I have a dream that one day, we will truly be a Land of the Free, where anyone of any background can come and feel at home.
I have a dream that world peace and justice will be built on the networking and bridge-building among ordinary people the world over, not among political leaders and multinational business interests at ordinary peoples' expense. I have a dream of a nation and a world where people can love whom they please, and marry whom they love, as long as both parties are consenting adults. I have a dream that one day, WorldWide, women will have the freedom, power, honor and self-mastery to live as they wish and to control every aspect of their own lives. I dream of the Cosmic Feminine and Masculine working together, in tandem, not in opposition or aiming for each other's overthrow. I have a dream of a Heaven and a Godhead as diverse as our Earth, where nobody is punished for what they believe, and all are encouraged to think for themselves, and to believe what they know and feel. I have a dream that all my lost and stolen dreams are restored to me and helped to come true.
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NEW YEAR'S LAIRALERT (WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 2004): At Last! I returned to Seattle this past Saturday, January 3, and only now have gotten the chance to update the Home Lair for the New Year, being utterly Deprived of Internet access during much of the time I was at my folks' place (the server, or something, was all Shot to Heck on my dad's computer). Several times I had nightmares about running around offices, looking for a computer with functioning Internet access; that's how bad my Net addiction is now. Nonetheless, I had plenty of pleasant Outdoors time, since the weather in Fairfield Glade was in the 50's and low 60's during a good bit of my stay there. And then, I get back to Seattle, and it's FREAKING COLD (mid-20's); a snowstorm quickly follows (the biggest in six years, according to the Seattle Times), and today, Wednesday, served up freezing rain, turning the lovely 3-inch coat of snowfall to dark-grey slushy s**t. Need we say, a bit of a shock to the system. I mostly stayed indoors and staffed the apartment's front desk yesterday, since most of downtown Seattle was utterly Paralyzed, with businesses and banks closing in mid-afternoon, and Metro buses sliding and spinning like river otters on a mud bank.
The tribute article to my late Grandmother, Irene Jacobsen Olsen, is now archived in Archive Lair 1, for all who would like to check it out. Our memorial service for her in Fairfield Glade on December 27 was rather overly Spartan, with only our immediate family, one of my parents' neighbors, the church organist, two pastors and one pastor's wife in attendance. I've never been terribly fond of memorial services in any case; they tend to be rather dreary, mushy affairs. A far better memorial to my grandmother would have been a proper Norwegian tea party in somebody's house, spread over several rooms, with lots of cookies, Scandinavian pastries, coffee, tea, traditional Norwegian music (live or recorded), photos passed around, and lots and lots of talk of experiences of Norway and Norwegian culture. And all this in a well-lit main set of rooms with curtains wide open to sunlight, Christmas decorations, candles and potpourri scents--NO dreary darkness, curtains pulled, somber furnishings, or gloomy, weepy vibes!! That's the way to celebrate the life of a Norwegian-American bestemor (grandmother)--something more akin to a wake than a funeral! In fact, I couldn't even get my folks to take everyone out for coffee afterwards, and they utterly nixed the idea of my playing a guitar solo or two, which my Grandmom would have loved. We really should do something of that sort here, whenever the opportunity presents itself!!
Meanwhile, my dad, Tom Olsen, is beginning treatment for an unusual, slow-growing, relatively non-aggressive form of liver cancer, doing a somewhat experimental washing of the organ's tissue in a radioactive chemical brew featuring the isotope Yttrium-90, which I've heard has been used successfully in the treatment of prostate cancer. He supposedly did a small-dose test run yesterday; if he can tolerate that, the Main Event is January 15. LairLurkers all, please send him your best wishes, good thoughts, prayers, healing energy, whatever, for his successful treatment and return to health. Thanks in Advance!
Meanwhile, back here in Soggy Slushy Seatown, important items on the Agenda include editing and compiling what I've got on live and studio CD's so far, to produce a presentable demo CD. We are also seeking, in Deadly Earnest, more funding for a full-length CD recording project. It's about freaking time!! Also, I have more polymer clay materials to make saleable Neolithic-inspired craft items and beadwork, and am working on a plan to print, frame and sell some copies of the Lair's computer art (see the Haunted Galleries in the Lair's Sitemap. And speaking of that, ARCHIVE LAIR 2003 is now Up and Excavated--see the Sitemap (url Above) for what's been shoved in there So Far!!
Just one more Small Item. I'm almost Certain that I saw the Ghost of Jason Webley in UW's Odegaard Undergraduate Library shortly before I left for Tennessee, but don't quote me on that (ssshhhh....)...
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